Independent Banker - September 2020 - 68

compensation and other short- and
long-term disability benefi ts for those
experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
or who have been diagnosed with
COVID-19; and unemployment
benefi ts for furloughed employees.
While experts believe that the novel
coronavirus pandemic may aff ect how
community banks view benefi ts like
working from home or paid sick leave,
most advise against making hasty
changes that would be diffi cult to
reverse later.
Now is the time for reevaluating
and reimagining benefi ts packages
rather than making sweeping
changes, says Jennifer Nodes, an
attorney at Jackson Lewis, a national
labor and employment law fi rm at the
Minneapolis branch. " Do you change
" It's easy to assume that
working from home is a benefi t,
and in many cases, it really is.
In other cases, it's extremely
diffi cult, especially if people
are providing care for someone
else or they don't have an ideal
work-from-home situation. "
Randell Leach, Beneficial State Bank
your benefi ts package today? No, I
don't recommend that, " she says.
" Things are just too fl uid. "
As a temporary fi x, some
community banks have given their
employees a one-time payment to
be used for child or elder care or
anything else they need. Others have
increased paid time off (PTO) or
have surveyed employees about the
hardships they face.
Experts agree that making one-time
58 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q September 2020
accommodations to benefi ts makes
sense, praising banks for how quickly
and comprehensively they have
acted. When it comes to modifying
benefi ts, " industry wide, banks have
been incredibly accommodating of
individual specifi c requests, " says
Ashwin Adarkar, senior partner and
leader of McKinsey's global retail
banking practice. " We've seen a great
deal of eff ort to accommodate the
requests of employees. "
Teleworking goes mainstream
Historically, working from home
has been viewed as an employee
benefi t, one that only a handful of
employees enjoyed.
Prior to COVID-19, a mere 7% of
U.S. employees had the option to
regularly work from home, according
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
These numbers rose dramatically
once the pandemic hit. According to
Gallup data, at the end of April 2020,
63% of U.S. employees said that they
had worked at home within the past
seven days.
At some banks, changes have been
seismic. Silsby notes that within nine
days' time, Kennebec went from 2%
to 82% of its employees working
remotely. " We had a pandemic plan in
place, " he says, " but in full disclosure,
I never expected we'd reach the
50% mark. "
Such turnarounds are not unusual.
" Many banks, " according to Adarkar,
" have surprised themselves in their
ability to rapidly shift to a work-athome
environment. It's been a heroic
and herculean eff ort by the banking
industry to provide a continuity of
service through this crisis. "
Randell Leach, interim CEO at
$1.2 billion-asset Benefi cial State
Bank in Oakland, Calif., says working
from home shouldn't be considered
a benefi t.
" It's easy to assume that working
from home is a benefi t, and in
many cases, it really is, " he says. " In
other cases, it's extremely diffi cult,
especially if people are providing care
Independent Banker - September 2020

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